A Springboard for Penetration of Central Asia

Samsung Pay has entered Kazakhstan, expanding the number of countries where the mobile payment service is available to 26.

Samsung Pay has started to make a foray into the Central Asian market, starting with Kazakhstan, the center of Eurasian logistics networks. Samsung Pay is now available in 26 countries around the world.

Samsung Pay began service in Kazakhstan on March 5 after six weeks of testing, Samsung Electronics said on March 17. In Kazakhstan, Samsung Pay is partnering with Visa and Mastercard. Samsung Pay hit the Kazak market 10 months after entering the Indian market in May 2019.

Samsung Pay debuted in August 2015 and has expanded its service regions to 20 countries over the past three years. In 2019, it faltered a little, adding only France and Indonesia to the list of the countries where the mobile payment service is available. In 2018, four countries were added to the list — Mexico, Italy, Canada, and South Africa.

Samsung Pay's expansion has been slower than expected compared to its rival Apple Pay, which came out in October 2014. At first, Apple Pay was unlikely to significantly increase the number of users due to the shortcoming that payment can only be made through near field communication (NFC) terminals. On the other hand, at the time, Samsung Pay was expected to rapidly increase users as the magnetic security transfer (MST) function applied to the edges of Samsung smartphones allowed Samsung Pay users to simply pay by placing their smartphones near credit card payment machines.

However, at present, the winner is Apple Pay. In 2018, Apple Pay entered Brazil, Poland, Norway, Ukraine, Belgium, Germany, and Kazakhstan, and in the following year, more than 20 countries including the Netherlands. It is now available in 59 countries. Outside of Asia, Apple Pay has more serviceable countries than Samsung Pay. In particular, Apple Pay succeeded in offering its services in all countries in the European Economic Area (EEA) by actively targeting Europe with active exchanges among countries.

Samsung Electronics explained that it concentrated its efforts on improving the functions of Samsung Pay rather than simply expanding its service areas. “Samsung Pay will continue to expand its service areas in the future,” a Samsung Electronics official said. “We choose countries for Samsung Pay by considering the fact that consumer perceptions of mobile payment services differ widely in countries, and we have to consult with individual card companies and local banks."

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